Well this didn't last long!

Prepare for a bit of a long one.

I started this blog with the whole intention of actually starting a project and finishing it.  However it has become quite apparent that this has not been the case.  I still have all the files for the project and they started to look good and the main character was almost complete.

So what happened?

Well quite a few distractions got in the way.  Some personal, some work and others from other interests.  The main culprit was Ingress.  A location based game from google where you fight for the control of portals in your area.  I’m not going to go into the detail of the game but I really started to get into it again and quickly gained 3 levels in doing so.  However due to a series of events I have now left the game as quite frankly its gotten boring and stupid.  There are constantly more and more badges being released to make it easier for people to level up and although that is apart of the game dumming the game down and making it easier is beyond me. E.g. They have released a new badge that requires you to hack at least 1 portal a day for a year to get the highest badge.  I’d rather the game be like it was when I first joined which made it a lot more interesting, strategic and in my eyes challenging.

Moving forward a little I gave Ingress up and have now moved onto having a mess around with a Raspberry Pi.  These are great little pieces of kit and being given one was awesome.  It’s only a Model B but I have already explored the possibilities of it being a desktop, hacking box, xmbc server and some other various os distributions.  I now have it running as a headless device where I am looking into controlling RGB led’s from its GPIO ports.  This is something that I have always wanted to try out and this little computer is now giving me the opportunity to do so. 

But what about some of the other projects I have started in the past?

Well these keep coming up from time to time and I do wish that something more had come about from them.  I had a good online store at one point but being not very good at marketing I could not make it work.  Luckily I had not spent too much in its setup but still would have been a nice thing to have running in the background.  The one thing that I am really disappointed in was my photography.  I put a lot of effort into it, learning, proper websites, full client viewing portal online store.  It was the business, quite literally.  I really enjoyed it but can’t put my finger on why nothing ever came of it.  Now that the weather is picking up again I would like to take this up again and see what sites there are out their where I can sell the images, either as stock photos or prints.  I am not sure yet.

Well that’s my mini rant over I suppose.  I will have to see what I decide to go going forward but at this moment in time I need to get a few things sorted in my head before settling down on just one project or projects.  I have a tendency to overcomplicate things (doesn’t take much) and I’m also not the most sociable of people with in this day an age it a very good skill to possess.

Quick Poll

The renderer issue is still playing on my mind and taking my focus off other things.  I was going to stick to the lesser one but I still prefer the other one.

So leave your preference in the comments:

 

Render 1 or Render 2?

 
Render 1

 

 

Render 2

 

 

Please vote for your favourite one as this WILL be used in the final animations!

That's all for now,
Jon

Decisions… Decisions

I know that I said I would put things on hold but I am keep to keep this moving and get something out and stick to my deadline.

So what’s the issue?, we want to see something!

So do I, believe me.  There have been a number of issues that I have run into and quickly trying to overcome without taking shortcuts.

1.       I am not an animator and all of this is pretty much the unknown.

2.       New terminology, new ways of doing things and a steep curve to re-learn the software again.

3.       Topology, I did not know how important this was until now and I keep having to be mindful of this which in turn relates to longer time modelling.

4.       Probably the biggest hurdle, what renderer to use.  I have the choice of having something that looks better but longer to setup and render or something that does not look as real, easier to setup and render.  As this is still very early on and I have a long way to go I think for the initial set of videos I am going to use the quicker renderer.  Not my first choice but I need to get something out and at least I know that it can be improved upon at a later date.

5.       Working on my own.  It is hard keeping up the momentum on a project like this when only doing things by yourself.  Not only because I do not have the immediate support to ask questions and bounce ideas off but also for sanity sake.  To put it another way I wrote the script in 2013 and only now looking at it to make it a reality.

So much for me downing tools for a week.  Now I have made a final decision as to which renderer I am going to use I can rest a little and speed up the process somewhat.

Sorry there is not much to look at but once the characters are complete I will be able to spend more time modelling the environment and props etc. which I should be able to quickly put together and show you all what I have.

That’s all for now.

Jon

When the going gets good.... Something stops you!

Well.  Things were picking up a little and great progress was being made.

However, something has come up and I have had to delay the project for a week.

More updates to come when things pick up again.

23/01/2015 - Lots of reading and toying around

It has become apparent that there have been a number of issues with the mesh as it is and is causing some heartache as I am basically trying to mend a broken bicycle wheel with glue and sticks.  It just is not working.

With that being said and the initial setback of yesterday I am starting again.  I have learnt a few tricks that will help getting back up to speed and I am sure that I can same some time in the modelling process and where possible to reuse some of the items I already have but I am not sure if this will be possible.

So to help me with this I am looking to create two identical models that are linked together.  This means that I can use one for all the animating, rotating squishing etc and the second one will remain untouched but linked so that I can edit this one and the animated one changes also.  This is a trick that i have found recently that works very well for the eyes.  As I am typing this I am not sure if it will work for the full mesh but it would work for smaller things like eyes etc.  But we will have to see...

22/01/2015 - Major set back!

I have been looking back over the mesh for the egg and decided that I would like to add more detail to the eyes.  In trying to do this I have been unable to edit the eyeball the way I want \ need to.  I have also been unable to correct the mouth properly which is causing some grief.  In short it looks like I am going to have to model the eyes first then re-model the body.  This is quite a setback and I am hoping to hit the ground running and resolve these issues quickly and texture as I go.  So in short the look of the egg may change in the coming days.  Not sure if i am going to like it as I have come to like the one I have now.  I just do not want to take any shortcuts to make things easier for myself, otherwise what’s the point of doing this?

20/01/2015

Not much done on the model today but spent some time looking to see what to do next.  I can either go down the easier route and work on the materials or try and set up some facial keys ready for animating.  I also need to have a better look over my filing as once the initial model is finished I need to break everything down e.g.mesh only materials and textures only as per my filing plan which has yet to make it into this document.

The bullet will be bitten and I looking into animating the face and get the shape keys right for the test animation.  Looks like I will be taking a crash course in shape keys and lip sync.